582. And with them they do hurt.- That this signifies that thus they pervert the truths and goods of the church, is evident from the signification of hurting, as denoting to pervert the truths and goods of the church by crafty reasonings from sensual scientifics or fallacies. For the horses seen in the vision, of whose tails these things are said, signify falsifications of the Word by reasonings from fallacies, as may be seen above (n. 575). From the horses thus seen by John, the nature and quality of representative appearances in heaven is clear, namely, that affections there, when represented by animals, appear in the forms of such animals as are seen in our world, but still every where with variety as to their members, especially as to their faces, the details of which, from correspondence, signify various things connected with the affection represented. For example, in the present case, horses were seen, whose heads were like the heads of lions, and their tails were like those of serpents, and had heads, and those who sat upon the horses, had breast-plates which were fiery, purple (hyacinthinus), and sulphurous. Animals continually appear in the spiritual world in various forms, and they have also been frequently seen by me. And he who understands correspondences, knows the signification of each. For all the affections which flow from angelic minds, are imaged before their eyes by animals of every kind on the earth, in the air and in the sea, similarly by all those things that are in the vegetable kingdom of the earth, and all those things that are in the mineral kingdom of the earth. This is the reason, that such things in our world were made the representatives of celestial and spiritual things. Such representatives exist in the spiritual world, because interior and exterior spiritual things are there. Interior spiritual things are all those that relate to affection, and to thought therefrom, or to the intelligence of truth, and the wisdom of good; while exterior spiritual things are so created by the Lord, that they may clothe or invest interior spiritual things; and when these are clothed and invested, such forms then exist as are in the natural world, in which, therefore, interior spiritual things ultimately terminate, and in which they ultimately exist.

6396. 'Dan' means those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good. This is clear from the representation of 'Dan' as the good of life, dealt with in 3921, 3923, but here those who have some goodness of life, which is engendered by truth but not as yet by good. For the situation with a person who is being regenerated by the Lord is that at first truth resides with him but no goodness of life engendered by that truth. Then such goodness of life engendered by truth, though not as yet by good, does reside with him; and after that, once he has been regenerated, goodness of life engendered by good comes to reside with him, at which stage he discerns truth from the vantage point of good and multiplies that truth residing with him. These are the degrees of regeneration, and 'Dan' is used to mean those with whom goodness of life resides which is engendered by truth but not as yet by good. The good that resides with them still lies deeply concealed within that truth; yet it provides them with an affection for truth and impels them to lead a life in accordance with the truth. Such people are in the Lord's kingdom, but because they are led to do good not by good but by truth, that is, not by anything of a new will but by the understanding - thus not by love but by obedience because they are commanded so to act - they are among those in the Lord's kingdom who inhabit the first or lowest heaven. These are the people whom 'Dan' represents, for in the internal sense of the prophetic declarations made here by Israel his twelve sons serve to describe in general the essential natures of all who are in the Lord's kingdom.

[2] The habitation by those meant by 'Dan' of the lowest heaven or lowest level of the Lord's kingdom because they are guided by truth but not as yet by good was represented by the falling of the lot last for Dan when the land of Canaan was shared out as an inheritance among the tribes, Joshua 19:40-48, and by the allotment at that time of an inheritance to them in the remotest part of the land, Judges 18. For the lot was cast before Jehovah, Joshua 18:6, and therefore fell for each tribe in accordance with its representation. The land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom, see 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 3686, 4447, 4454, and all its boundaries were therefore representative, 1607, 1866, 4116, so that the outermost parts of that land represented the lowest parts of the Lord's kingdom, 4240. 'Dan' consequently represented the inhabitants of those lowest parts, for before truth has become joined to good it resides on the lowest level of that kingdom. But if truth has become entirely separated from good it does not reside within any boundary of the Lord's kingdom but is outside it.

[3] The fact that Dan's inheritance was the outermost part of the land of Canaan is clear from the fact that whenever the full extent of that land was described the expression from Beersheba even to Dan was used, 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:15; 1 Kings 4:25. In this expression Beersheba means the inmost part of the land, for the reason that it was the place where Abraham and Isaac lived, that is, before Jerusalem and Zion had become the inmost parts of the land.

[4] The essential nature of those guided by truth but not as yet by good was also represented by the Danites who were to spy out the land in which they were to live, Judges 18. It was represented by their removal of the Levite from Micah's house and their making off with the ephod, teraphim, and carved image, by which objects is meant the worship of those guided by truth but not as yet by good. For those people venerate things of an external nature but have no interest in those of an internal nature; for things of an internal nature are discerned by none but those who are guided by good. This is what the Danites under consideration here represented, as becomes clear from the consideration that all the historical incidents in the Word, both those in the Books of Moses and those in the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, are representative of the celestial and spiritual realities of the Lord's kingdom, including therefore this incident in the Book of Judges involving the Danites. As regards anything further concerning the essential nature of those guided by truth but not as yet by good, this is described in the internal sense of the things said about Dan that come next.